New Member of the Family (almost)

Meet Eskriver Uigeadail, known to her friends as Isla, who will be joining the family in just under a fortnight's time.  It's felt like an interminable wait since Amber died at the end of October; but, finally, the end is in sight, and we visited our new pup for the first time this morning.  Needless to say she is absolutely adorable, and we cannot wait to get her home.  In the meantime, here are a few pictures from today.

Isla has been bred by Waterside Gundogs, who have been absolutely brilliant at providing all the essential health checks and keeping us up-to-date with progress (and, more recently, photos).  There are currently litters of both labradors and cocker spaniels, and two beds had been provided for them.  Needless to say, one of the beds was totally empty and every single pup was piled into the other.

Isla's mother, Ivy, has the most amazing eyes of any labrador I've ever met.

Courtesy of Issy, a final picture of me and my new best mate.

In case anyone is wondering, Isla is named after the whisky island - a place we love - but we have dropped the "y" to stop the uninitiated from calling her "Iz-Lay".  As for her kennel club name, Eskriver is Waterside's Kennel Club affix, and Uigeadail (pronounced "Oo-ge-dahl") is my favourite dram, produced by the Ardbeg distillery (on Islay, naturally).

Roll on March 9th...